Another Bird
by Cloudfeather
Summary: When a deaf apprentice named Sparrowpaw is found on ThunderClan territory, he befriends Jaypaw. But something isn't quite right about him. What's all this about green eyes? And where's he from?
1. Prologue: The New Guy

**Another Bird**

**Summary: Sparrowpaw is a deaf apprentice from a Clan far away. When he stumbles onto ThunderClan territory, Ashfur and Lionpaw find him in a terrible state. They take him to Jaypaw and Leafpool, who help nurse him back to health. When Firestar invites him to join the Clan, Sparrowpaw doesn't know what to do. He'll have to tell them about his disability eventually, but will they take it like his old Clan and kick him out? Or will his new friends stand up for him and help?**

**Prologue**

I couldn't help it. I collapsed. My paws couldn't hold my weight anymore. The other cats had been too strong, and I hadn't even seen them coming. I hadn't even _felt_ them coming, which I normally would have. But their paws had hit the ground too softly.

Closer to the ground now, I could feel the rough vibrations of pawsteps. Running pawsteps, probably an apprentice. I wanted to drag myself toward the help, but at the same time, I wanted to get back, to hide.

Suddenly, a golden tabby tom appeared, bursting out of the undergrowth. He gaped at me for a moment. I had to concentrate to decipher the movements of his mouth as he spoke.

"Ashfur!" he was calling. "Ashfur, come here!"

A pale gray tom burst out of the undergrowth not far away. He too gaped. "Who is he?" he asked the other tom.

The first tom shrugged. He was probably an apprentice. "I don't know." He turned to me. "Who are you?"

I shook my head. Keeping my words un-slurred and legible took enough concentration. I couldn't try to speak _and_ keep my secret in this state.

"We need to get him to Leafpool," said the second tom, who was obviously a warrior. "Lionpaw, help me get him up."

The apprentice nodded and came around to one side of me. He knelt down next to me and waited for the other tom to come around on the other side. Then, together, the worked to help me into a standing position. My shoulder screamed in pain. I was pretty sure that it was in worse condition than my other wounds. Being deaf, I wasn't used to making a lot of noises, so instead, I simply squinted my eyes shut.

Now I couldn't hear _or_ see anything the two cats were saying though, so I opened my eyes. The golden tom was staring at me with a worried look in his eyes. He glanced up at the warrior. "I think he ran into ShadowClan," he said.

I would have turned my head to find out what the other tom was saying, but I couldn't muster the energy. Instead, I let my head loll to one side, landing on the tabby's shoulder. I didn't care what anyone was saying anymore. In this state, I wouldn't have enough energy to figure it out anyway.

My eyes began to droop, and I fought hard to remain conscious. For a moment, I could have sworn I'd caught a hint of angry green eyes poking out of a black background somewhere in the forest. My heart beat irrationally fast as the eyes brought back memories, but as soon as I looked directly at them, the eyes disappeared.

As the two toms began to move, I felt my shoulder scream in pain, and I welcomed the bliss of unconsciousness with an open heart.

* * *

Jaypaw scented his brother before he heard him. He and Ashfur were returning from a hunting patrol, but something was wrong. Jaypaw turned, frowning. Someone was hurt, but he didn't recognize the scent. Who was it?

He heard the two of them approach the entrance to the medicine den and called out. "Lionpaw? What's going on?"

"Jaypaw!" he heard his brother call as he entered the den. Jaypaw took a sniff of the air and smelled that same strange scent from before.

"Who's with you?" he asked. "He doesn't smell like any cat I've ever met before."

"None of us have met him," Lionpaw answered. "He didn't even tell us his name. He's really badly hurt though. Can you help him?"

Jaypaw moved to the tom's side and lay down next to him. He pressed his nose to the tom's fur, breathing in the smell of sickness and infection.

"He's got an infected wound," Jaypaw said, standing up. "But nothing serious, other than that. I should be able to take care of it, provided Leafpool gets back with those herbs soon." He let out a low growl. His mentor had been taking an awfully long time collecting the herbs they needed.

"She'll be back soon," Ashfur promised. "We passed her on the way out to the border."

Jaypaw nodded. "Thank you, Lionpaw, Ashfur. You can go."

"Are you sure?" Lionpaw asked worriedly. "There's nothing we can do?"

Jaypaw gave an annoyed sigh. "No, Lionpaw, there's nothing. Now go. You _can_, however, tell Firestar about our little arrival here." He could sense his brother's hesitation and quickly said, "There's nothing you can do in here. I need peace and quiet so I don't mess up. Now _get out_."

"Sorry Jaypaw," Lionpaw said quickly. His brother turned and headed out, but Jaypaw could sense him stop for a moment and cast a worried glance in the direction of the young tom. Jaypaw was about to snap something angrily, but then his Lionpaw turned and left the medicine den.

**A/N: So, how was it? R & R!**

**--Cloudfeather**


	2. Chapter 1: Dreaming

**Another Bird**

**A/N: I'm going to be putting review replies in my story if that's okay. Both of you get virtual huggles! –huggles you guys—Thanks for reviewing!**

**Journals of the Wiccan: Thanks! And here's your update!**

**Tanfeather: Hope this update fills you all the way up!**

**Chapter 1**

I opened my eyes slowly, not wanting to do anything to agitate my shoulder. I half-expected to be sleeping out in the forest again, but I wasn't. I blinked in surprise. Where was I? Then I remembered. The two toms who had found me. Ashfur and Lionpaw. Judging by their names, I would guess that the two of them were Clan cats, and this must be their medicine den.

Speaking of which, there was a pretty light brown tabby she-cat puttering around the den, organizing piles of leaves. As I opened my eyes, she spotted me and blinked in surprise. Then she spoke, and I found myself concentrating once again. I felt like sighing in annoyance. Sometimes it seemed that my entire life was concentrating.

"Good, you're awake," the she-cat said, walking up to me with a pawful of herbs. She set it in front of me. I didn't dare look down at it for fear that I would miss her next words. "Go ahead, eat it."

I glanced down at the bundle. From its smell, I could tell that it was just borage and feverfew, which meant I was running a temperature. I had a fever. I frowned. It must be from my shoulder.

I glanced up at the she-cat. She was staring at me expectantly, so I gulped down the leaves. I made a face. They tasted _terrible_. That would explain why queens complained about the stuff so much.

When I looked up, the she-cat was still watching me. "My name is Leafpool," she said. "I am the medicine cat of ThunderClan. What is your name?"

I mustered up all of my concentration and poured it into saying, "Sparrowpaw."

If Leafpool noticed a slip, she didn't say anything. "That's a Clan name," she observed. "What Clan are you from? I don't recognize you."

"Not from a Clan," I managed to say. I hoped I hadn't slipped up with the words. I hated it when I did. Most of the time, it just earned me a bunch of weird looks and sympathetic glances. But that was in my old Clan. Here it might earn me a ticket back to Loserville. **(A/N: Son of Dork fans will recognize that line!)**

Leafpool frowned. "But-," she started to say, but stopped and turned her head. I turned mine too. There was a dark gray tom with clouded blue eyes walking in, carrying several leaves in his mouth.

He spat them out at Leafpool's feet. He said something, but I couldn't tell what it was. I gave a wide yawn.

I looked over at Leafpool, who turned to me and spoke. "This is Jaypaw," she said, staring directly into my eyes. It was a bit disconcerting. "Jaypaw is my apprentice."

I glanced back at Jaypaw. He narrowed his eyes at me and his tail twitched as if he were concentrating very hard. I frowned. What was he going to do, read my mind?

As if he'd heard my thoughts, he opened his mouth in a laugh. I frowned. What was so funny?

When I turned back to Leafpool, her mouth was moving with the words she spoke. I waved my tail for silence, but she either didn't see it, or didn't understand.

I tried to be a bit subtler. I lay my head down, letting my eyes droop. That time she got the picture. I saw her close her mouth and sigh. She turned away and walked toward the entrance, shaking her head.

As soon as she was gone, I raised my head, rolling my eyes. I saw something out of the corner of my eye, and turned to see Jaypaw shaking with laughter. I rolled my eyes, again.

Jaypaw nudged a few poppy seeds toward me. I frowned, staring at them for a moment, and then glancing up at Jaypaw. But eventually I sighed and ate them. Then I rested my head on my paws and waited for sleep to take me.

* * *

It didn't take long for Sparrowpaw to fall asleep. As soon as he was, Jaypaw lay down next to him and slowed his breathing to match Sparrowpaw's. And soon, he was dreaming with him.

_Jaypaw opened his eyes to see a light brown tabby tom grooming himself by the edge of a forest. He looked up as Jaypaw walked over._

"_So that's what you look like," Jaypaw said thoughtfully. "Tabby. I didn't know. Thought you'd be dark brown for some reason."_

_The tom frowned. "What are you talking about?" he asked, though his mouth didn't seem to move around the words quite right._

"_I'm blind," Jaypaw said simply._

"_But you can see me here," Sparrowpaw protested. Then understanding dawned in his eyes. "You're blind, but you can see in dreams. Just like…" He trailed off and looked down._

_Jaypaw tilted his head to one side. "Just like what?" he asked._

"_Nothing," Sparrowpaw said. He made a face. "So, you gonna stand there all day? Or are you going to sit down?"_

_Jaypaw rolled his eyes and lay down next to Sparrowpaw. "So…" He trailed off. "What's your story?"_

"_It's complicated," Sparrowpaw said. "I got kicked out of my Clan because they thought I was worthless. I left the territory and ended up here. The end."_

"_I'll be willing to bet a moon of cleaning up after the elders that there's more to it than that," Jaypaw said firmly._

_Sparrowpaw scoffed. "No, really?" he said, rolling his eyes. He looked down. "Look, I don't want to talk about it."_

"_Why?" Jaypaw asked. Sparrowpaw looked up._

"_Why what?" he asked, frowning in confusion._

"_Why would they think you're worthless?" Jaypaw asked. "A Clan doesn't think that without good reason." He made a face. "Well, most of the time."_

_Sparrowpaw sighed, and then he was silent for a long time. Jaypaw waited for him to speak, but the tabby tom just kept tracing a circle in the sandy floor of the forest with his paw._

_Finally he spoke. "I'm deaf," he admitted. Suddenly he looked up, staring Jaypaw directly in the eyes. "But if you tell anyone, I'll shred you!" He spoke with such conviction that Jaypaw didn't doubt a word he said._

_Jaypaw rolled his eyes. "I won't tell. Though I understand why you seem so tense all the time. Let me guess: you tried to hide your deafness from your old Clan and it didn't work out."_

_Sparrowpaw sighed again. "Yeah, pretty much. My siblings and my mother knew, but they never told anyone, not even my father. We were scared that I wouldn't be able to be an apprentice. That they'd send me to live with the elders in their den."_

_Jaypaw flicked his tail in annoyance. "I know what it's like," he said, glaring around him._

_Sparrowpaw blinked in surprise. "You do?" he said, frowning._

"_Yeah," Jaypaw said. "There's another blind cat in our Clan. Longtail. When he went blind, the elders welcomed him. Now he's old enough to be an elder, but when he went blind, he was still young. When I was about to become an apprentice, everyone thought our leader was going to make me live with the elders."_

_Sparrowpaw looked down at his paws. "I guess I understand where they're coming from," he admitted. "But I wish they would stop treating me like I'm a kit. I can tell what cats are saying, it's just… I have to concentrate really hard, and when I'm tired or injured or sick, it makes it harder. Some of my friends back in my old Clan used to use signals to communicate, but it was still tough." He sighed. "Talking's hardest. If you think I have to concentrate to understand what you're saying, you wouldn't believe how hard I have to concentrate to keep from slurring my words."_

"_You did okay earlier," Jaypaw said. Sparrowpaw looked up in surprise._

"_You don't think Leafpool suspects anything?" he asked._

"_Nah," Jaypaw said. "Leafpool's smart, but I don't think she'd realize something like that so soon."_

_Sparrowpaw nodded, and he seemed to be relieved. He looked over at Jaypaw. "What about your leader? Do you think she would suspect anything?"_

"He_," Jaypaw corrected. "Firestar, our leader, is a tom. Anyway, I doubt it." He let out a low growl. "Sometimes it seems that he doesn't notice things that are right under his nose."_

_Sparrowpaw chuckled. "That seems to be the universal definition for leader," he said._

_Jaypaw nodded. "Look, I promise I won't tell anyone about you being deaf, but I want something in return."_

_Sparrowpaw frowned. "What?" he asked. "I don't have anything to give you."_

"_I know," Jaypaw said. "But you can tell me your _real_ story."_

**A/N: Well, there's the end of chapter 1! Next chapter is Sparrowpaw's story, and we'll learn a little more about him. Review!**

**--Cloudfeather**


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